The question came suddenly, as she had been chewing happily on some dehydrated fruit rations, and made a knot in her stomach appear out of nowhere. The idea of leaving each other for even a moment was nauseating.
“I can take care of myself, dummy,” she said, giving him a magnetic smile. “I've made it this long without you.”
But deep down she was dreading the day when they parted ways. She had begun to include Jax in her fantasy world, some idyllic nonsense with a white picket fence, man and wife, nuclear family kind of bullshit that never would happen in the real world. She had to kick herself whenever her mind wandered to that forbidden plain of hope. Nothing could ever be that simple again.
“I know you have,” he said. “Which just makes you more amazing.”
They grinned at one another over the firelight, but now both of them were feeling depressed. Thinking about the past could destroy you, and thinking about the future was grim. It was best to stay focused on the present moment. Nothing else was ever going to be a guarantee.
They fell asleep, both of them troubled and anxious. It was Layne who heard it first – the twig snapping, the sound of sniffing. Wild dogs.
***
“Jax!” she hissed. Jax sat bolt upright, immediately assessing the danger around them.
“Stand up slowly,” he said, reaching slowly for his weapon and standing. She followed his lead, but the dogs were too fast. Her only chance was to run.
Chapter 10
It seemed like she ran forever, further than she had ever thought she could run. All the training her legs had gotten over the years left her agile and athletic, but still, strenuous walking took its toll and her legs were cramping fiercely. She'd lost sight of Jax ages ago, it was only her and the dogs now. Nothing else existed, and nobody else would matter if she was mauled to death, because that would be it; the end of her story.
She didn't know when she had started crying, but it was making her breathe laboriously. She tried to dodge into a tree but failed, and had to keep moving before they caught her. The only reason they hadn't yet was that Jax had distracted them long enough, given them enough distance so that she might have a chance to escape. She wondered if the dogs had killed him, but she couldn't think about that now, not with the adrenaline in her veins, the blood rushing in her ears. She would run now and ask questions later.
And then there was no hope. A wolf, no, it was a husky with wild eyes, but a wolf nonetheless, bared its fangs at her. She thought it drooled rudely onto the forest floor, but it was too dark to be sure. All she saw was the teeth in the moonlight, the pale white fur, the menacing glint in the eyes. And then she saw blood, pooling from its beautiful neck. It fell facedown and she turned, wild-eyed to see Jax bounding toward her, holding her tightly in the darkness, whispering that it was going to be okay now, and they were going to find a place to rest. He would carry her, they would be all right.
They stumbled around in the forest, it was completely uncharted territory for both of them, until they finally stumbled into an old cabin. It smelled awful, like all the other homes did before they were re-inhabited, but they would worry about that later. It was better to be safe from the dog packs out there, certain to be seeking revenge for having one of their own killed.
Jax sat Layne gently on a musty old couch as he searched the house impatiently for supplies. He found the linen closet, changed the sheets on an old bed, checking to make sure it wasn't too moldy, and beckoned her to lay with him. They sank into the bed together, exhausted, and fell asleep before their eyes were fully closed.
***
When they awoke, it was still dark, though it was more obviously morning. They weren't well-rested per se, but they were both used to sleeping in short bursts. Survival was easier that way. She'd heard the term wolf-napping used before by one of the pseudo scientists in her tribe, and thought it applied well to their situation. The sudden thought of wolves caused her to sit bolt upright in her bed and pat her shoulder. Her bag was gone. She lost her seeds as the wolves were chasing her. All hope was lost. There was no way she could settle anywhere now.
She closed her eyes and began to grieve in earnest, her sobs stirring Jax from his slumber. He had thought about being a gentleman the night before and sleeping on the couch, but after the close call they'd had, he couldn't bring himself to leave her sight. He sat up, troubled by her disturbance, and touched her shoulder gently.
“It's all right,” he said softly, his voice tired and hoarse. He hadn't had any water for a while.
“No,” she sobbed. “My seeds. My bag is gone. Everything was in there. That was everything...”
He held her tightly but she pushed him away.
“We need to go back,” she demanded.
“We don't need to go back,” he said, still groggy but sitting up.
“What's wrong with you? Of course we need to go back!” She was sitting up, staring at him wildly.
“No, no. I mean of course we would if we needed to but we don't.”
She was about to smack him in earnest when he got up from the bed and trudged to the sofa in the cabin's living room. He came back and plopped her bag down in front of her, then went outside to urinate and stretch. He came in and sipped his water, surprised. Layne was crying again.
“I thought they were gone forever, my hopes...”
“Hey, it's fine. I'll take care of you.”
Jax lowered himself beside her and she threw her arms around him.
“You saved my life last night. You saved my seeds. You're just so...”
He raised his dark eyebrows and pursed his lips as if hoping she wouldn't continue. She laughed, and then her lips were against his, their warmth gripping him hard, taking him by surprise. It awoke something fierce within him, a pent up energy that he'd been ignoring for all these years, utilizing solely for the purpose of survival. She gasped in surprise as he lifted her with all his strength, settling her on his lap where she could feel the manifestation of his desire burning through their clothes. It excited and aroused her, and she pressed herself experimentally against it, flushing slightly when he responded with a kiss on the neck.
He let his hands roam her perfect body, finally allowing himself to take a moment to appreciate it all. It had been right there in front of him all this time, but he had never felt like it was okay to look; like if he did, it would be a blinding siren's call to certain death. Not that she was a siren, it was more like he didn't trust his own mental discipline. But now it was different. They were somewhere safe. It wasn't even light out yet, they had nowhere to be in particular. And everything felt right.
Layne shuddered, the alien feeling of another person's fingertips on her flesh making goosebumps stand out on her arms. The threadlike tendrils of pleasure he wove through her caught her in a web, and even if she tried she wouldn't be able to avoid succumbing to the guilty pleasure of his body. He was a strong man, both in spirit and body, and once upon a time she would have stared at him like he was a piece of meat, imagining what might be going on in his head and assuming there wasn't much else to him than that. But here he was, showering her with gentle kisses, his eyes sharp and senses calculating, doing just so to elicit just such a response, treating her with the curiosity and wonder of a virgin making love to his first girlfriend.
She almost thought him timid, but no, he tore her shirt off after toying with the buttons; licked her clavicle and nibbled her ears as he pushed off his boxers, revealing his swollen member, engorged and more exciting all on its own than any one of her sexual memories. His touch was intoxicating, as if he had waited all his life just to unleash his prowess on one woman, and now that she was there, and they were together, she would receive nothing less than royal treatment.
He was lifting her again, she was floating weightless, helpless, struggling to submit but ultimately losing the battle and happier for it. He kissed her, their tongues dancing in one another's mouths, stoking the fires inside of them until suddenly it was done – he was in her an
d she was moaning with a pleasure deeper than anything she had ever known. She held tightly to his bronzed shoulders as they kissed and made love, and he uttered appreciative and reverent groans as he thrust slowly and deliberately inside of her, amplifying any pleasure she might feel to incite his own.
He stayed in control so long that she almost thought he was robotic, and then she sucked his neck, licked his earlobes, scratched gently down his back and saw his control waver. His inhibitions rippled away and he was hammering, thrusting harder, deeper, until she buckled against him, screamed in rapture, shuddered and climaxed again and again, until her contractions squeezed him inside of her, eliciting the rupture of his orgasm, filling her with an explosive flood of power. It seized her and would have brought her to her knees if she were standing up, and they collapsed, breathless, onto the bed, curled around each other like pleased kittens, nibbling each other's lips in bliss until they fell back asleep.
Chapter 11
It was late afternoon before they woke up again, bathroom breaks notwithstanding. The sun had finally risen, and they stretched comfortably in the cabin. They'd gotten used to the smell sometime during the night, and without it, and with the touch of the sun, it was actually really cozy. Layne laid in bed, looking at the pictures on the walls, a framed leaf plated with gold on a cream mounting board; a motivational phrase embroidered onto a scroll, encouraging everyone to live in the moment and believe the best is possible. She recognized the quote from somewhere but couldn't quite place it anymore. It had been too long since she dared to wander into a library. Most of them had water damaged books, and the smell of mold was too much for her allergies. She might as well have rolled around on a rug made of cat fur.
Finally, she gazed at the perfect sleeping body of Jax. She let her eyes roam in full golden glory what she hadn't been able to see in the dark. It had been the best sex of her life, nothing could possibly compare. His hand was resting on his bare chest, and she touched it, unable to believe that somebody so mysteriously powerful had come into her life. But there he was.
He gripped her hand tightly as he opened his eyes. He looked well-rested for the first time since they met. She realized that he never seemed able to fully relax – he was always on the alert, looking out for danger, watching out at all times so she wouldn't have to. It was nice to see him have a break for a change. It was something that she would like to get used to. He deserved some peace of mind once in a while.
“Good morning,” he said with a smile.
“Morning,” she replied.
She was worried that her breath smelled bad. She had cardamom seeds in her bag. She hoped that once they were planted they could chew on them to improve their oral hygiene. She had a toothbrush but without toothpaste it wasn't exactly breath-refreshing. Most people didn't bother anymore, but she did her best. It was something she and Jax had in common. The people in the tribes were too miserable to care much about their hygiene.
Jax sat up, kissing her on the cheek, and cracked the window by the bed open. They were hit with a smell that Layne found intoxicating, and she had a sudden urge to run outside and play like she would have when she was just a young girl. The fresh air and the trees awakened her.
“Let's go explore!” she exclaimed. “I want to see what it's like here.”
“All right,” he said, laying lazily on the bed, everything tantalizingly exposed but his groin. Each knew what the other was thinking, and he tackled her back onto the bed.
When they were done, they pulled their clothes back on and headed outside with their backpacks.
“I really like it here,” Layne decided. It had a good feeling about it. Good energy, as if it had been inhabited by kind people. After a while of wandering, you got a sense like that about a place. She tried to avoid old homes because the bad feelings were the worst, especially when you were alone.
Jax nodded.
“Look, it gets better!”
They had suddenly come upon a gravel pathway. They glanced at each other excitedly. Each side of the path was littered with edible berry bushes.
“This is quaint,” Jax said, plucking a berry from its stem and popping it into his mouth. Layne laughed. Jax was the kind of person who would say “quaint and mean it.” She followed his lead, picking a handful of berries, and they began walking down the path, unsure of what they would find.
“Why do I feel like this is Hansel and Gretel?” Layne asked as they moved forward cautiously.
“Maybe we all feel like characters in a book when things are too good to be true, because we believe the catch will come at any minute.”
“What if I choose not to believe in a catch this time?” The day had been too perfect.
“We'll find out when we reach the end of the path,” Jax said with a shrug.
They fell into a comfortable silence as they walked, picking berries and eating until finally, they reached a clearing. They stared at the sight in disbelief, clinging to each other's hands tightly.
They were standing in front of a giant solar panel, surrounded by a garden – boxes of raised beds with old, shriveled, plants wilting in them.
“This is unreal,” Jax said, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. If he had glasses he would put them on right now.
“Pinch me,” Layne whispered. Jax pinched her butt and she laughed, pushing him away. “Ass.”
He grinned, turning to her, giddy with pleasure.
“This means running water. They would need a well out here. Layne, you can have this. We can keep it. You can have a home again!”
The threat of the wild dogs seemed like a distant memory. Here was the remains of somebody's dreamland. A place that was already growing its own compost. The animals got into all of the food of course, they would have to be careful, but it was a start. They embraced tightly, and Layne wept tears of joy. Jax held her tightly, kissing the top of her head. She would be safe her, and they would stick together, creating a home, somewhere stable where he could bring his brother to safety.
THE END
Love and Survival in the Time After
BOOK 2
Leela Ash
Copyright ©2016 by Leela Ash. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter 1
Jax looked at Layne lying naked in the sunlight as it streamed through the bedroom window of their homestead. He grinned as the light tickled her nose and she crinkled it, turning toward the shady wall and snuggling deeper into their blankets. It had been so long since they were on the run that domestic life seemed almost natural.
So when he heard the branch cracking outside the window, his instinct was to brush it off, assuming it was the wildlife. There were sometimes bears and deer that romped through the forest, but since the virus hit, they weren't wanting for food. They generally left the human population alone. But the next thing Jax heard made him grow rigid. He sat up quickly in bed, hoping he had heard wrong. He'd heard shuffling. A snap and a grunt. Somebody was outside in the garden.
Jax sat up slowly, careful not to wake Layne. The last thing she needed was to worry about somebody ruining the garden she had spent all her spare time focusing on. She had put her whole soul into making the garden flourish, single-handedly providing them with a steady supply of simple vegetables. She was still slaving away, collecting seeds and creating raised beds for the garden so that when the next season arrived, she would be able to plant the proper crops.
They'd been there for a good six months; just the right amount of time to allow her tomato and zucchini plants to flourish. They'd enjoyed steady meals of meat and vegetables and were able to keep barrels of boiled water on hand. They had forgotten that life could be so stable, and now that they'd managed to fall into a routine, they had forgotten that life could be so full of danger at every turn.<
br />
Jax pulled on his boxers and crept to the closet beside the front door of their cabin, grabbing his rifle and making sure it was loaded. He took a deep breath and cocked the gun as he stepped outside, closing the door with a gentle thud behind him. He began to perspire as he crept around the side of the cabin, sneaking to where Layne's garden was laying vulnerable to the elements.
Fortunately, Layne thought of everything. They had used some chemist's tricks and natural planting methods to keep pests away. That didn't stop the rabbits and deer though, so Jax had set up traps for them. Those they caught made it to the table, while the luckier, perhaps smarter ones, avoided the area altogether. It was a win-win situation.
But someone had breached the security and Jax was certain that it wasn't an animal. They hadn't expected very much human encroachment, though. They had managed to get out of the tribal territories. Suddenly, a wave of cold fear struck Jax and he paused behind an evergreen tree, clutching the rifle. What if the Jackals had found them? One of them had been left alive and knew what Jax and Layne both looked like. Did they come for revenge? Had they done anything to safeguard against that kind of breach?
They had done their best to reinforce the fence that had been constructed around the homestead before the virus had stolen away its inhabitants. Fortunately, they hadn't found any remains on the property, so whoever it had belonged to before the apocalypse had probably caught it early and died in the hospital waiting to be treated. That was a small comfort when they began to settle into their new home, knowing that the suffering and the oozing had happened elsewhere.
He was under the bedroom window now and thought of Layne, sleeping soundly inside, oblivious to the danger. The urge to protect her spurned him on and he tensed up as he ducked into the garden and raised his rifle; peering through the foliage of a large bush.
FLASH (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 15) Page 146